As politicians celebrated the lifting of the debt ceiling in Washington, the United States hit the $20 trillion debt level for the first time in its history. At the same time, citizens are reaching their own personal milestone with $1 trillion in credit card debt alone. It is not hard to see this will end up given the trending lines of debts as we continue to spend wildly both publicly and personally.
The agreement between the White House and Democratic leaders raised the debt by $318 billion. That was added to an existing debt of a staggering $19.84 trillion. Treasury immediately started borrowing again — increasing the percentage of our taxes just going to debt management.
In the meantime, U.S. consumers added $33 billion in credit card debt during the second quarter of 2017 — that is the second-highest point of debt since the end of 2008.
The average household credit card balance is now $7,996 in 2017. It appears that we have truly achieved a representative democracy with leaders reflecting their constituents values: the government is spending as wildly as its citizens and pushing off payment to some later date as we add debt to pay off debt.
Reblogged this on Takadoshi Kutomiku.
One ought to learn what economist Paul Krugman has written about the national debt. Briefly, it isn’t too big.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, on the other hand…
Really, I am surprised that NO ONE has yet cited the Fourteenth Amendment: US Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment, section 4, first sentence, says that the debt shall NOT BE QUESTIONED. It is the law of the land. The debt-ceiling law is phony and unconstitutional.
“The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.”
Debtor voters = debtor politicians. As long as the federal gravy train is underway nearly everyone wants to jump on for a ride.
$20 Trillion. I am waiting for some of the lenders to raise their rates and see the effect upon the lenders when members of the left declare the raise in rates to be “unfair”.
I just checked the averae rates nationwide for bganks 2.5% What is that? Mexico banks pay near 7%.
So questions?
IF the Government doesn’t have enough money has it EVER considered laying off some of those excess people. The one’s that get the vacation during the phony shut down the government street theatre time? The 40% or less actually sent home while 60% keep working?
Nothing critical is shut down nor delayed during what is actually a slow down. Ever.
Has the government ever considered spend LESS not more? Your joking me if iyou say yes.
Has the government ever considered cutting out the pork and fat and waste? Not really.
When has a government tax cut been aq real cut instead of just less of next years budget request? Never.
The answer starts with the House of Representatives and they are all coming up for election with the midterm primary campaign season this fall through spring followed by the General Election.
There’s two good chances to get rid of the wastrels and porkers. You can see by that last vote which ones to vote out of office. the vast majority all work for the Pelosi Party the rest known as RINOs are Pelosi’s right wing of the left. None of them are anywhere near the true center of the country.
So greedy moochers sign up over here at the Pelosi Table and self governing moderate centrist citizens repeat your performance of last Novermber and drive them out. Democrat, Phony Reublicans the whole bunch. and while you are at it one third of the Senate should also aget pink slipped.
Correction to the last paragraph.
So greedy moochers sign up over here at the Pelosi Table and self governing moderate centrist citizens repeat your performance of last Novermber and drive them out. Democrat, Phony Republicans the whole bunch. and while you are at it one third of the Senate is up for re-election and easily half of them should also get pink slipped.
As for the 40% of us that are not represented by a party that were the largest voting bloc and controlled last years election the targets are clearly what’s left of the left and the worst of the RINOs. It’s a local matter but consider how many vacations these slugs are going to take without doing anything between now and the start of the next term of office Jan 3rd 2019. This fall all of next year? Can we afford the overpaid do nothings anymore?
After living within 40 miles of DC for 10+ years I can tell you that most of the government workers, both actual employees and contractors as well are all about cutting taxes and reducing the size of the government. However when asked all of them beleive that their job was crucial to the efficacy of the federal government.
amazing how many small government Republicans were all for bigger budgets, theirs.
Michael Aarethun – well, here in Arizona we are working on little Jeffy Flake. He keeps running ads on FB and the comments are vicious.
Perhaps it would help if, instead of saying twenty trillion, they called it twenty thousand billion, keeping in mind that the universe ls less than fourteen billion years old.
What will happen eventually is, that the United States will end the foolish system of “borrowing” money for the government into existence. They will simply print money, as any sovereign nation could do were they willing to tell the banking class and the 1%ers to go jump in the lake.
And before somebody puts the cart before the horse, and brings up Weimar Germany, and the wheelbarrows full of money to buy bread, it wasn’t the SUPPLY of money that devalued the currency. It wasn’t the wheelbarrow of money that created the worthlessness of the currency, but the worthlessness of the currency which created the need for a wheelbarrow full of money.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
The money borrowed is too great to be paid…ever. The interest payments will be. Governments will continue to spend with congressional approval as long as taxpayers continue to feed the beast.
So stop complaining and whining unless you, the taxpayer, are willing to withhold your tax money and force government to reduce its size and useless (not all) activities.
That a nation state can maintain its sovereignty while operating under a privately owned central banking system the most consummate absurdity in the history of civilized society.
It’s all Joo trick.
Paul Berry, the main problem with our system is that we live to only 75 years of age.If we lived to be say, 125-195, attitudes would be more attentive and benificial to solving the issue.
However. . . .
So, pass the buck and enjoy the ride.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Too many folks sacrificing their futures for living large in the present. Keep driving around in your brand new Mercedes-Benz 401Ks instead of funding your 401(k)s, and you’ll be learning how dog food tastes when the social security check is all you’ve got to fund your monthly nut.
“Mmm, Alpo casserole again! My favorite!”
OK, we know that liberals in this country will never allow that too happen. The “have nots” are starting to outnumber and outvote the “haves” and their elected representatives will be happy to start taking your hard-earned and hard-saved retirement funds for their socialist wealth redistribution schemes to benefit their constituents.
https://twitter.com/medic854/status/904723166949502976
We are told by economists that the national debt is irrelevant. It can become as large as we want it to be and it will never be a problem, because governments never repay debt. The debt is just a ledger entry that sits there becoming smaller and smaller as a percentage of a growing GDP, until it shrinks into obscurity as a meaninglessly small percentage of an infinitely large GDP and disappears.
I forget to say that the theory does not count for the debt of other nations when they owe that debt to us. Then they do have to repay it, and then they go into a state of financial crisis and hyperinflation which is a disaster for them and causes mass starvation. But we get our money back, or whatever portion we can force them to pay.
Might be true IF the debt was continuously increased. The fallacy in your false premise. Economics 101. you can take the whole course no charge on line at hillsdale.edu. .
Folks! it’s a target rich environment if you want to point fingers. Every Prez since Ike and every Congress since have been spendaholics. it’s not their money and they have the ability to tax us into hellish debt while they feed off the trough. A complete cleaning of the House is what needs to be done. A grass roots movement to vote out EVERY incumbent. Let’s not fall into “Trump, Obama, W..yada yada.” EVERYONE in DC is to blame. In the past 3 decades DC has become the wealthiest city in the US. They produce NOTHING, they only tax and spend OUR MONEY!
No, in the Eisenhower era, Congress and the President produced three balanced budgets. Three of the five unbalanced budgets occurred during recessions.
The advent of deficit spending every year regardless was during the Kennedy Administration. However, the problem was modest at that time. It grew dramatically worse after 1968 (NB, Lyndon Johnson’s last budget was balanced).
NICKY –
Let’s demand that the grossly bloated military/intelligence budgets be slashed by 50-60%. We don’t need to be spending for more than what’s needed to defend OUR country. While we’re at it, no more money for terrorist groups, attempts to overthrow Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Ecuador governments, and leave the heroin and cocaine businesses to operate on their own. Legalize drugs to eliminate much of the costs associated with paying corrupt LEO and we can also drastically reduce the costs of incarcerating non-violent felons.
Let’s demand that the grossly bloated military/intelligence budgets be slashed by 50-60%.
The ratio of military spending to gross domestic product (at just north of 0.04) is near the post-1939 nadir.
DSS –
Yes, our national government has been grossly over-spending on the military/security complex for many decades. Meanwhile, our infrastructure is crumbling, millions are without the medical care that most people in advanced countries rely on, and our world wide reputation is that of a violent country that interferes in other countries, kills millions in the quest to steal natural resources that don’t belong to us, and sees most voters as uniformed rubes that are routinely fooled by its leaders and who are routinely betrayed by con men like our current leader and his unofficial co-president, Jared Israel Kushner.
In one of the best, if not the best cross national comparison’s of healthcare, CONCORD, the US proved far ahead for common cancers such as breast cancer.The chance of your wife or daughter surviving breast cancer is greatest in this country and #1 or #2 for the other listed common cancers.
bill, You probably don’t know me well but I support 50% cuts ACROSS THE BOARD. Then allow agencies to adjust for a couple years, and SLASH 50% ACROSS THE BOARD AGAIN. Clear enough?
NS
Clear enough – as long as you include the MIC.
Might be a Dave Ramsey moment “Beans and Rice” all around.
My credit card debt is $0 thanks to Dave Ramsey. Also, no mortgage payments.
Ditto. Not I am not paying interest on plastic I have no need of a credit card.
The debt-service and financial obligation ratios of American households (i.e. the ratio of debt-service to personal disposable income and the ratio of the sum of rent and debt service to personal disposable income) are as we speak as follows: rent-plus-debt-service, 15.63%; debt-service, 10.04%; mortg
age debt service, 4.42%; consumer debt service, 5.63%. The median figures for the period after 1979 would be 16.59%. 11.34%, 5.65%, 5.71%, respectively.
The ratio of mortgage debt stocks to personal income flows is troubling at 0.90. It was, however, about that in 2002, before the run up in real estate prices grew truly pathological. (It was 0.79 in 1999, during the early years of the 1997-2006 real estate price boom).
With regard to the public debt, the Congress is too stupid and refractory to adopt sensible policies. You can blame just about every faction in Congress for that.
#progtrash #FredoCons
Most of that debt is Obama’s. Trump doesn’t have a budget in place yet.
Absolutely. Obama inherited a surplus, no wars, and a strong economy that didn’t require any financial reinforcement.
The federal deficit at the close of FY 2006-07 was 1.2% of gross domestic product. Then the Democratic Party got hold of the Congressional committee architecture.
He inherited a the results of two large government sponsored scams. One courtesy of Dodd Franck was the everyone should own a house and banks are required to loan money to anyone regardless of credit rating. The other was the ethanol scam.
A third factor was changing the required rules banks operate under in valuation of their repossessed houses. The results were forced bank closures,
The Fanny Mae Freddy Mac Scandal and the government going broke. not a recession they went bankrupt and then along came OBamanomics aka the cycle of economic repression and that’s when the huge borrowin started to enter it’s worst phase.
But what did Obama have to show for that?
Well he cut the military in half. And embedded many thousands of poltical appointees in their place.
We got 1% or less down to point zero two COLA while he got a 16% increase in his retirement pay.
The working classes from CEO to Janitor got devalued dollars as they retired and the elderly saw their retirement fund shrink 20 to 30% in buying power.
Dodd and Franck retired to a hefty retirement while Dodd added a million dollar a year job.
the working classes and elderly got to line up for 20 hours a week at Walmart. With I might add the unions snapping at their heels.
The most popular stores in the country were not Nordstroms or Macy’s but Walmart and Dollar Stores.
And the cycle of economic repression must still be paid for while government enlarged and so did their pay.
Who you going to vote for in the mid term primaries. A tried and true friend of stick it to the citizen or for putting a boot up their butt? And along with it the single party system and it’s Government Party.
Obama’s in the sense he’d have vetoed any serious effort at deficit reduction. Keep in mind that Congress enacts appropriations bills. Obama did not have a clue how to negotiate even had he wanted to address fiscal imbalances.
The debt is caused by spending, not by the budget. Trump’s administration, budget or not, is spending at a rate exceeding Obama’s.
Fortunately we have a humble president who’s very responsible, with his numerous bankruptcies, defrauding of his own charities, and by stealing money through his fake university and then settling (“I never settle”) for $25 million. And by clogging up the courts with thousands of lawsuits.
The best brain, truly.
Most progressives would do no injury to the quality of their thinking on matters of political economy if they put a loaded revolver to their temple and pulled the trigger.
Get back to us when you’ve learned what ‘equity capital’ is.
DSS,
Get back to us if/when you refuse any more Trump Kool Aid. Your Kochish stats may fool some people- but not to the (admittedly few) critical thinkers here.
Roscoe, It is the other way around. MANY people live within their means. In our 40 years, we have never carried over a monthly debt on our credit cards. Trump is just like every other prez. Not surprising, he lives in debt himself.
NICKY –
Were you in a union? Civil Service employee? Wife work outside the home?
Trump IS just as anti-the average voter as most other presidents. JFK, Nixon, and Carter were exceptions.
bill, I ran my own biz for 30 years and was brought up to be frugal and never live above your means, keep up w/ the Joneses, or be pretentious. and WTF did I say to make you think I am a Trump fan. I just don’t hate him like you alt leftists. Get that chip off your shoulder dude. It’s weighing you down.
NS – your false label makes you sound like a low information, intolerant, arrogant little man.
Get some learnin’, boy.
billy, I told you what I’ve done w/ my life, retired comfortably, answering your questions. What about you Billy. What do you do for a living? Why are you so resentful of successful people? Has your life been a failure, billy boy? You appear and disappear here. Hopefully the latter occurs soon
So..I’m guessing by his avoidance billy mcwilliams is on the dole.
” It appears that we have truly achieved a representative democracy with leaders reflecting their constituents values: the government is spending as wildly as its citizens and pushing off payment to some later date as we add debt to pay off debt.”
It’s the other way around.